diff --git a/megalodon/backends.py b/megalodon/backends.py
index 056b193..84603a0 100644
--- a/megalodon/backends.py
+++ b/megalodon/backends.py
@@ -10,10 +10,6 @@
 # model type specific information
 TAI_NAME = 'taiyaki'
 
-CAN_ALPHABET = 'ACGT'
-MOD_ALPHABET = CAN_ALPHABET + ''.join(
-    b for b in string.ascii_uppercase[::-1] if b not in CAN_ALPHABET)
-
 
 def parse_device(device):
     if device is None or device == 'cpu':